Month: December 2016

Birth of an Age by James BeauSeigneur
Warner Books, 2003
Price I paid: It’s complicated

The discovery of live, incorruptible human cells embedded in the Shroud of Turin has led to an incredible genetics experiment, even as biblical prophecy is coming to pass. Combining the visionary thrills of Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins with the scientific accuracy of Michael Crichton, James BeauSeigneur continues the powerful, epic mystery of U.N. diplomat Christopher Goodman—the clone of Jesus Christ…

His coming prophesied by more than a dozen major religions, Christopher Goodman was born into the most turbulent time in human history. Already two nuclear holocausts have shaken the planet, killing hundreds of millions.

Now, in Jerusalem, 144,000 messianic Jews develop supernatural powers and pledge their service to a man claiming to be John the Apostle. Fated to live from biblical times to Christ’s return, the apostle awaits fulfillment of the End Time visions he described in Revelation. But John and his cohort, apostate Hasidic rabbi Saul Cohen, don’t plan to merely witness the Apocalypse—they intend to cause it.

Harnessing their spiritual powers, the two menacing prophets threaten the human race with a terror just beyond the earth’s horizon. Thrown from their orbits, three asteroids are hurtling toward the planet, as John and Saul Cohen plan to subject humanity’s survivors to global destruction, demon possession, and homicidal madness.

Yet Christopher Goodman must wait and allow it to happen, for he has discovered that scattered throughout the Bible and other religious texts are clues pointing to an incredible hidden truth—a secret of devastating, universal importance that will reveal the astonishing future of Man…and the true nature of God.

It is far more than life and death that hang in the balance. It is the fulfillment of galactic destiny—humankind’s final evolutionary step that will propel man as far beyond his current state as humans are now above the insects. It is the Birth of an Age!

The Müller-Fokker Effect by John Sladek
Pocket Books, 1973
(Originally published by Hutchinson, 1970)
Price I paid: 90¢

Can a human being be reconstituted like orange juice?

To find out, the Army backs a futuristic research project that transfers a man’s personality onto computer tapes. Guinea pig for the experiment is technical writer and dreamer Bob Shairp.

But the project barely gets off the ground when a computer accident wipes out Shairp’s mortal body and only his tapes remain. Is Shairp doomed to this encoded state forever? Or can the bizarre process be reversed?

The giant, disk-shaped world of Mesklin was an Earthman’s nightmare―so cold that the seas were liquid methane and the snow frozen ammonia, with crushing gravity up to 700 times that of Earth. No human being could explore Mesklin’s surface.

Yet―a desperately needed research rocket was down on Mesklin. Someone had to go after it. That someone was the strangest explorer ever to appear in science-fiction―the Mesklinite merchant seaman, Barlennan―fifteen inches long, thirty-six legs, weighing hundreds of pounds. And, as it turned out, the sharpest trader an Earthman ever met!

…is prepared for trouble in New York City, but he’d hoped to arrive in time to prevent it. The first subway station blew up while he was still en route from California, piloting a sleek new twin-engine plane. It was fast, but not fast enough to get him there in time to stop the 72nd Street IRT station from caving in, carrying a large section of Broadway with it.

A Third World group, an alliance of Afro-Asian students, the Eusi Dhahabu, has been formed in Harlem. It says that they are working for racial equality, but they are asking for money. Lots of it. Exactly two million dollars in unmarked, used twenty-dollar bills. If they do not get the cash promptly, twelve more subway stations will go. During rush hours. With thousands of people in them.

Responsible blacks cannot infiltrate the group. They have tried. How, then, can the Penetrator? Honkies stand out in Harlem. Somehow Hardin must reach back into his Indian past for a disguise that will work…and fast. There are forty-two subway stations in New York City, and time is running out.